Chapter 1 Sanlin Street

In a scrap metal recycling station near the sea on Sanlin Street, an old man nearing seventy years old came out with a flashlight. He saw Lao Yang and the others at the entrance.

"You're the one who called in the report?" Lao Yang asked.

"Yes, I called Xiao Liu at the patrol station. Aren't you guys looking for a fugitive?" the old man replied, nodding.

"Yes, there is a fugitive." Lao Yang immediately got to the point, "What kind of clues do you have?"

"It's not really an important clue," the old man replied clearly. "I'm just a night watchman here, and I have two dogs. But lately, these two dogs seem like they can't get enough to eat. They're always hungry and barking, and they keep running out to the beach to scavenge for garbage..."

Tang Baiqing was dumbfounded when he heard this, "What kind of clue is that? What can two dogs prove?"

"Don't interrupt!" Lao Yang waved his hand, cutting him off.

"I've raised these two dogs since they were puppies. I know what they're going to do before they even do it," the old man replied confidently. "I live here alone, and they eat whatever I eat... They would never go to the beach to scavenge for garbage unless they were really hungry. They're starving, someone took away their food."

"Anything else?"

"I felt something was wrong, so I walked along the beach yesterday and noticed that the two old car cushions that were thrown in front of the factory were gone too," the old man turned around and pointed towards the beach, "Over there."

"You went there?" Lao Yang asked.

"Am I crazy?!" the old man frowned, "I don't even know who's stealing the dog food. If I went over there and ran into them, could an old man like me handle them?"

Lao Yang pondered for a moment, glanced back at the third floor where Tang Baiqing had killed someone, and suddenly asked, "You think he's by the sea?"

"Yeah, there's no one over there. Everywhere else is a scrap metal recycling station, and they all have night watchmen," the old man nodded.

"Can you take us over there to take a look?" Tang Baiqing asked.

"I'm not going, you guys go by yourselves," the old man waved his hand, "What if there really is someone, and they want to retaliate against me?"

"Over there?" Lao Yang pointed to the beach and asked.

"Yes!" The old man nodded.

"Let's go, go take a look," Lao Yang immediately ordered.

...

Late at night, Lao Yang, Tang Baiqing and the other five followed the direction the old man had pointed out. After walking for about two kilometers, they arrived at a garbage dump by the sea.

This garbage dump was full of harmless household waste, used for coastal reclamation projects. It was also related to the Su family because the sorted sanitation waste was transported here by workers.

The radiation area of the dump was very large, and there was a strong stench. After Lao Yang and the others sneaked over, they deliberately hid next to a pile of garbage.

"You don't need to follow. We'll just take a quick look," Lao Yang pulled out his gun and whispered to Tang Baiqing.

"Okay," Tang Baiqing nodded.

"Call the station and tell Eryang on duty to bring people over," Lao Yang instructed his colleague, "Check your guns, be careful."

"This is just a shot in the dark, do we really need to notify Eryang?" the nearby police officer frowned and asked.

"No, that old man sounded pretty confident. I have a feeling we've really found a lead," Lao Yang replied, relying entirely on his experience and intuition. "Be careful, if you spot anything unusual, don't move. Wait for the reinforcements to arrive, it'll be safer that way."

"Okay."

The police officers following Lao Yang were all veterans. After a brief discussion, they immediately dispersed and entered the garbage area. Tang Baiqing, unable to help, stayed on the periphery to wait.

If normal people were searching such a large garbage area, it would probably take three hours to finish. But Lao Yang and the others were different. They were all criminal police officers who had been working for many years. Their character might not be great, but their professionalism was strong.

After Lao Yang and the others entered the garbage area, they could roughly judge where it was suitable to hide people, where it was easy for suspects to move around, and where the terrain was complex and conducive to escape, just by briefly scanning the surrounding environment.

After about twenty minutes of searching, with the four veteran police officers maintaining visual contact, one of the police officers suddenly walked over to Lao Yang and said in a low voice, "Brother Yang, over here."

Lao Yang and the others went over to him. The police officer pointed to a row of huge hollow concrete pipes not far away and said, "There are footprints in the wet soil over there, a lot of them."

The beach was mostly damp and unstable sandy soil, so any footprints would be particularly noticeable. Lao Yang bent down and glanced over there, then immediately rushed over with his gun.

The concrete pipes were about four meters high. The hollow width of each pipe was about the same as the entrance to a sewer. These pipes were stacked together, looking like horizontally placed honeycomb briquettes.

After the four searched for another minute or so, one of them on the left suddenly shouted, "I found something!"

Lao Yang ran over when he heard this and looked up at the second layer of the concrete pipes. He saw a plastic bag inside, as well as two old car cushions placed side by side.

"This is it. The car cushions are for sleeping. It's too cold to lie directly on the concrete pipes," the police officer on the left immediately climbed up, reached out and opened the plastic bag, squatted down and moved to the outside, using the moonlight to scan it. "It's leftovers. Damn it, he didn't take this stuff away. He's definitely coming back."

When Lao Yang heard this, he immediately whispered, "Quick, quick, retreat, hurry!"

The police officer put the plastic bag back in its place, bent over and retreated.

"Go, go, squat down next to us, wait for our people to arrive, wait for him to come back," Lao Yang called out, holding his gun and backing away.

The four immediately retreated and hid on the side of a pile of garbage, occupying a position from which they could observe the situation in the concrete pipe area.

"Hurry them up again, ask where the people from the police station are," Lao Yang ordered, sweat breaking out on his forehead.

"Tat, tat!"

Tang Baiqing came over from behind and asked in a low voice, "How is it?"

"I think we've got it right," Lao Yang whispered back, "Someone must be living here, it's probably that kid."

"That's good, that's good," Tang Baiqing nodded repeatedly.

The police officer next to Lao Yang took out his phone and was about to call his colleague on duty at the police station when he suddenly heard a slight footstep coming from the south side of the concrete pipe pile.

"Don't move, don't move!" Lao Yang pressed down on his wrist.

In the moonlight, the burly Da Xiong walked quickly towards the concrete pipe pile, carrying a white plastic bag in his hand. In the moonlight, they could vaguely see that it contained two pieces of clothing.

"It's him, he's back!" Lao Yang recognized Da Xiong at a glance, and excitedly ordered, "Spread out a little, seal off the surrounding area, and wait for our people to come over."

The three police officers nodded, while Tang Baiqing said eagerly in a low voice, "Let's arrest him now! Five people can't handle him alone, we don't need to wait for the police station, right?"

"Don't make noise, he's a bit strong, and he probably knows the surrounding terrain..."

Just as Lao Yang was whispering a reply, Da Xiong, who had already walked near the concrete pipe pile, suddenly stopped.

In the moonlight, Da Xiong looked down at the messy footprints on the sandy ground and suddenly took a step back.

"Why isn't he moving?" Tang Baiqing was a little confused.

Da Xiong stared at the ground for a while, hesitated a little and took two steps forward, looking up at the concrete pipe he was living in.

A faint light shone into the concrete pipe. Da Xiong saw a lot of yellow sand and footprints at the entrance of the pipe.

"Swish!"

Da Xiong didn't hesitate this time and turned to leave.

"Damn it!"

Lao Yang suddenly jumped up, "This kid is very observant, he saw through it. Arrest him!"

The three police officers immediately rushed out when they heard this, while Tang Baiqing glanced around, grabbed an old iron shovel and rushed up with Lao Yang.

Da Xiong looked back, turned and ran.

"Shoot him, shoot him!" Tang Baiqing gritted his teeth and roared fiercely.

"Bang!"

A gunshot rang out.